Seattle/King County Climate News 1.5.22

[Robin Briggs]

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a good one. With the long break, and the Legislative Session poised to begin, there is lots to report. I've reported on bills I know about, feel free to email me if I've missed your favorites.

Seattle

City Council establishes Select Committee on Climate. Still awaiting news on committee chair and scope.

City Council approved new Energy Code requiring all water heaters in new commercial building to be electric.

SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe fired. SDOT Chief of Staff Kirsten Simpson is taking over temporarily pending a national search for a new director who is "aligned with my [Bruce Harrell's] vision." Mayor Harrell's statement goes on to say "Going forward, my vision is for a Seattle Department of Transportation that centers equity throughout our transportation network across every street and sidewalk, in every neighborhood and community. We must create a balanced transportation ecosystem – increasing safety and decreasing travel times by bolstering transit, improving sidewalks, protecting bike lanes, and recognizing the role of cars and new electric vehicles." It's difficult to tell based on this statement why Zimbabwe was removed,  and what policy changes may be ahead.

The Office of Environment and Sustainability has been conducting outreach on the OSE dashboard. They have been able to get more detailed and more frequent reporting of some of the major components of GHG emissions, some by census tract or zip code, and some quarterly.

State

Gov. Inslee announced his climate agenda for  2022. It includes these priorities:

• Decarbonize buildings

• Climate Commitment Act followups: create an Office of Climate Commitment Accountability, a stronger, clearer consultation process with tribes on CCA investments, map out a plan for emissions-intensive trade exposed industry to reduce their emissions, and improved air monitoring in overburdened communities.

• $100 million for EV rebates, including $7500 for new battery electric vehicles (BEV), $5000 for used BEVs and $1000 for zero-emissions motorcycles and e-bikes.

• $450 million for cleaner fuel ferries, statewide EV charging network, clean bus technology, and improvements for transit, pedestrian, and bike infrastructure.

The Legislative Session starts on Monday. New bills we are tracking:

• HB 1099, Adding Climate element to the Growth Management Act. Starts this year in House Rules Committee.

• SB 5042 , Closing the the Growth Management loophole

• HB 1782, Allow Middle Housing near Transit. Upzone within 1/2 mile of major transit stops. Part of Governor's housing agenda.

• HB 1766, Modifying the regulation of gas companies to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions

• HB 1767/SB 5666, Allow public utilities to do targeted electrification

• HB 1770/SB 5669, Strengthening energy codes

• SB 5528, Allow additive revenue with regional transit area (Sound Transit)

[Iris Antman]

Dear all,

Thank you Robin for being so on top of this information and sharing with us in such an organized manner.

AND, CAN WE TAKE A VICTORY LAP FOR THE CITY COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE!

I have to think our little group had some, maybe small, part in helping to move this idea forward.

Happy New Year to all.

Peace,

Iris

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Seattle Climate News" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to seattle-climate-...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/seattle-climate-news/568d5157-23d4-45aa-b4f7-fe963033c327n%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.